One Family's Cancer Journey

Kenny

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Kenny wants to express his appreciation to all of you who have prayed for him and his wife as they walk the cancer path. He is doing well and continuing his treatments in San Antonio. He gives God the glory and praise for His Guidance during this past year.

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I received this email last night giving the latest information on Kenny and his response to an experimental cancer treatment using a drug called Reolysin. Here is a portion of his email:

Helen and I are so thankful about the way things have gone for us. We are so grateful for everyone’s prayers and support. We would not be where we are today without all of you. God is infinitely good.

The sponsoring pharmaceutical (Oncolytics) has approved extending treatments “indefinitely”. As long as I tolerate it well and I continue to receive benefit from the drug (as measured by CT scans), and God leads that way, we will continue to go to San Antonio about every four weeks for another round.

There is a new article that was published in the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio’s (of which CTRC is a part) news publication. The link:

We are totally in awe of God’s grace in our lives and are so thankful for all He has done and is going to do.”

I spoke with Kenny just before writing this post. We talked about the emotional roller coaster that we ride when traveling down the cancer path. Kenny mentioned that your emotions can be totally different when you are waiting for the results of a test than they are after you receive the results a few minutes later. He also mentioned the ‘peace that passes all understanding’ that can only come from God.

Yes. God is blessing Kenney, but because of Kenny, God is also blessing us.

I apologize for not updating you recently. Things have been extremely busy for us, as you can understand. Throughout the last eight months, we have grown even more certain of several things: God loves us more than we could know…He has a plan for us…His plan is not only for His glory but for our good…God is in control! PRAISE HIM!

Since August, we have been going to San Antonio every four weeks for experimental treatments with Reolysin, a drug containing the virus called reovirus. Although I have experienced flu-like symptoms during each “treatment week”, I have tolerated it well with no real lasting side effects. I am feeling pretty good or better most of the time.

I have had CT scans just about every eight weeks during all of this. Each of the scans have looked virtually the same, meaning there are still tumors or masses there, but they appear to be unchanged (stable) over the past six months. However, this last time, I also had a PET scan (my first one). The results showed “no metabolic activity”, which “suggests” that there may not be any active cancer cells anywhere. Medically speaking, there seems to be little evidence that I have cancer any more, but this could only be confirmed with a biopsy, which is not a good idea because of the risks involved.

There have been many prayers offered up on our behalf. We have continued to trust God in everything. We believe that God has used our faith and these many prayers to sustain us and give us a peace through all of it. God has shown us that if He desires to heal me, He can do it any way He chooses using anything or anyone He chooses. We believe that God has healed me, possibly even using this new breakthrough medicine to do so. PRAISE GOD!

There is one more treatment round for me remaining in the clinical trial I am in, scheduled for the last week in February. There is a good chance that the sponsoring pharmaceutical company, Oncolytics Biotech, will want to continue treatments beyond that.

There are so many opportunities to minister to fellow cancer patients and their loved ones. We are surrounded by so many of all ages with such profound needs. At times, we feel that this is one of our biggest challenges. We need the right words to say.

Feel free to share some or all of this as you see fit. We know that God is using your website to touch many. Thank you for your prayers and concern.

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Kenny went back to San Antonio yesterday and was to start his treatment today. He is not doing chemo, They are treating him with a virus that is suppose to kill the cancer. So far they think it is beginning to work but it is still to soon to know. At least he is still in the study group. Others have had to get out of the program because their tumors got to big. They think Kenny’s tumor’s are shrinking but don’t know for sure yet.

If you remember he was diagnosed with “synovial sarcoma” metastatic to the lungs. Please continue to pray for him and his family.

“When one person in a family gets cancer, the whole family gets cancer. ” Dr. Phil

It affects everyone on the family.

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Kenny goes back to San Antonio on Sunday to start his second round of treatments. He had a port put in last Monday to administer the medicine which will make his treatments easier. He is feeling well right now and I know he appreciated everyones prayers.Thanks for your prayers.

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I emailed Kenny’s sister-in-law, checking on updates for Kenny. This is her reply. Please continue to keep Kenny and his family in your prayers. God’s hand is present here, guiding, comforting,giving strength and wisdom.

Kenny got to San Antonio on Monday and they could not start his treatment. When he went for the prescreening procedures the week before they forgot to do some of the bloodwork that was needed. They did the bloodwork that day, but since it takes 72 hours to get the results back they couldn’t start the treatment. He is going back on Sunday and will begin treatments on Monday. While they were there they got to meet a woman from Oklahoma who was in her 15th day of treatment who is also in this program. She had had breast cancer and then had a sarcoma come up on her hip then it metazised in her lungs. The tumors in her lungs were the size of potatoes. They got to talk about the treatments with her and were glad they could talk with someone else who is in the program. They know there was a reason they couldn’t start there treatment last week and are still very upbeat about the possibilities of this new treatment. They do appreciate all the prayers from everyone. Kenny is considering starting his on blog and when and IF he does I will email you the blog page. Thank you and everyone for keeping them covered in prayer.

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I received this email from Kenny,updating his condition, options, and status of his treatment.

There are things here that only God can do. It is my prayer that God will be present in all areas of his illnes, comforting, give guidance, peace and wisdom.

“As some of you know, I have recently been diagnosed with “synovial sarcoma
metastatic to the lungs”. That means that the same cancer that was removed
from my forearm 4 1/2 years ago has now been found in my lungs. A month ago
when my doctor told us, he said there was no cure. Chemotherapy would only
prolong my days, but the type of chemo I would have to take would have such
terrible side effects, that we decided that was not a good option. It might
give us a few more weeks or months, but my quality of life would go down
immediately, with no real chance of improvement.

I received a call two weeks ago from my doctor about an option that had just
opened up. There was an experimental drug that might have some benefit. We
asked him to make us an appointment to discuss it with a Dr. Monica Mita in
San Antonio, which happened last week.

I have been accepted in this phase II clinical trial at the Cancer Therapy
and Research Center (CTRC) in San Antonio. The drug “Reolysin”, which
contains a virus called the reovirus, will be administered to me through IV
for a five day period every 28 days for up to eight periods (if it appears
to be doing anything positive). This is not a chemotherapy, but it is given
in pretty much the same way. The doctors reminded me that there is still no
cure for my cancer, but this drug in experiments has shown some possible
hope in slowing down or shrinking tumors, or possibly even throwing the
cancer into remission. While we recognize that, medically, there is no
cure, we know that God can choose to heal me completely, and by whatever
means He chooses.

We have been told of several things we ought to try. How could we know what
to do? We have been praying for God to make our choice (if any) obvious to
us. We believe He has.

The one thing I would ask is if you believe in prayer, please pray for me,
my wife Helen and my two daughters, Shandria and Stefani. Everyone’s prayers help a lot!”